Temperature's Rising
by Doug2
Summary: The Charmed Ones help Inspector Morris with a strange series of murders. Please review.


Temperature's Rising

The fog had just rolled into the alley between two warehouses down on the docks as Inspector Morris took another sip of hot coffee to keep warm. He had been called at home when two bodies were found by a homeless man living nearby. Both were young males under twenty who had probably had too much celebrating and by mistake wandered down to the warehouse district. Neither appeared to have given much of a struggle. Robbery also did not appear to be the motive. They just seemed to have dropped dead. One of them must have just gotten in town because he had a bad case of sunburn and few locals were sunbathing much in the month of November. He oversaw the rest of the evidence gathering and the bodies were shipped off to the morgue. They finished well after breakfast so off to the station house he went.

After lunch the inspector was feeling the effects of his early morning outing. He had had a large lunch and was starting to doze off when the phone rang. The coroner was ready with is initial report. Inspector Morris hated these visits for he preferred life to death.

The coroner reported, " It's the dangest thing I ever saw. There are no cuts or contusions, no signs of violence. Each man was in good health and yet they died. And then it gets stranger. One of them apparently died of heat exhaustion and has a bad case of sunburn around the face and neck. The other person died of cold exposure, frost bite and pneumonia. And yet and both died at the same time, about 1 AM, in the same alley from exact opposite causes. It's about as weird as they come."

The Inspector asked, "And you can see no reason how death could have occurred?"

"Not unless one came from the tropics and the other from the arctic and died here in San Francisco. Dangest thing!" he said.

"Well, thank you," said the Inspector. Weird deaths, thought the Inspector, who could help me with this?

Prue for once was home on time for dinner. Phoebe and Piper were busy putting the finishing touches on their Japanese dinner.

Phoebe stated, "Everything smells great. I don't mind being a guinea pig for your specialty nights at the club, Piper. Don't forget the fortune cookies."

Prue asked, "Fortune cookies with Japanese food? That is unique!"

"I like fortune cookies. We both have something in common; predicting the future," explained Phoebe.

Piper said, "Just a few more minutes and the last entrée will be ready. I wish Leo could have been here tonight. He loves Japanese."

Prue said that they would make sure and save him some of the leftovers. As soon as everyone sat down, there was a knock at the front door. Prue went to answer it. It was Inspector Morris.

He said, "I'm sorry to interrupt you at dinnertime, but as my experts in the unusual, I needed to talk to you."

"Please come in," said Prue. She still hadn't gotten over Andy and visiting with his partner was almost as bad.

"To come straight to the point there have been a string of seven strange murders, over the last two weeks. All young men from 17 to 20 in good health and yet they died of either heat exhaustion or pneumonia near the docks after midnight. There appeared to be no struggle or robbery attempts. They just got sick and dropped dead. If you have any ideas, please let me know."

Prue said that they would look into it and said good night.

"Good night," said Inspector Morris and off into the night he went. Strange set of sisters, he thought, but Andy was right, they do seem to help.

Prue closed the door and went into the dining room.

Piper had heard what was said, "It sounds like some kind of demon just killed them and leaves them, but what a strange M.O. Let's eat and then we'll head up to the attic."

Phoebe and Piper enjoyed the meal, but Prue just picked at it. She couldn't stop thinking about all those boys lying dead in the alley. What happened to them and who would do such a thing, she thought. They all helped with the dishes and then looked through the Book.

"Heat and cold, heat and cold," said Piper thinking out loud.

"Both opposites. Ah, here it is. It says that a warlock named Maurice has the power of heat and cold. Every fifty years he must absorb the life force of nine young men and can kill by either freezing or heating them. Either method can result in quick death. If he doesn't get his quota of life forces by the full moon, he will be destroyed." Phoebe said, "Great, all we need to do is watch all of San Francisco till the next full moon."

Prue thought, "That's only three days away and they always occur in the warehouse district. All we need now is some bait."

Phoebe said, "Where are we going to get a kid to walk around with us waiting for a killer to come along?"

Piper replied, "There's a kid who has been dying, whoops, sorry, to meet you Phoebe. Why not ask him to dinner and wander through the docks afterwards. We'll be there to protect you."

"Sounds like a lot of fun, " said Phoebe, "fighting off a warlock and fighting off a hormone crazed teen-ager. I thought I had finished doing that in college. O.K. What's his number?"

Phoebe was really surprised when Larry greeted her the next night. Young he was, but very handsome and sophisticated. Her heart jumped when she first saw him. They went down to a little Italian restaurant and had a great time. He was good company and they both liked the same music and clubs. Nothing got too passionate since both her sisters were eating together just a few tables over. They had a long meal and talked a lot. After midnight they started their walk.

Larry was getting a little worried as they made their third pass through the same alley the last bodies were found.

"Do you like dark creepy places?" he asked Phoebe.

"Isn't the fog romantic coming off the bay?" she said not too convincingly.

"Haven't there been some murders in this area lately?" he asked.

"Well, yes," said Phoebe, "but you're safe with me." And she gave him a quick demonstration of martial arts.

Larry didn't feel too much better thinking he had a girl with a death wish. He might have felt better if he had known in one direction Prue and Piper were watching their backs and Inspector Morris was around the other corner. On their fourth pass through the same alley, Larry took her arm sharply and they headed for the main street. Phoebe suddenly had a quick premonition that something was going to attack from behind.

"Prue!" she shouted.

"Who?" said Larry as they came charging around the corner.

A cold mist came from nowhere and they saw a red haired wild-eyed warlock materialize. The Inspector was coming around the far corner. Maurice called out that he had come for Larry and with one quick motion of his hand the entire alley become very hot. They were all quickly going to suffer the affects of heat exhaustion and seemed to have no defense as the temperature kept rising. It was Phoebe's common sense that made her pull a mirror out from her purse and turn it toward the warlock. A flash of light hit him and he started getting the full effect of the heat. He turned from red to brown and starts crying an unearthly sound. He then exploded and the whole alley returned to the coolness of the early November morning.

The Inspector was partially use to these odd occurrences, but Larry said, "Who or what was that? What are you people? You meant to lead me down here to him and..."

Phoebe tried to explain, but Larry just ran from the alley. Phoebe yelled, "Larry, Please come back..." She was crushed that they had scared him off.

Inspector Morris had other questions. Prue tried to explain that he did not have to worry about the murders occurring any more.

"What do I list the other ones as." He asked.

"Just another mystery in old San Francisco," chimed in Piper. And off they headed home.

The next morning, Phoebe was very depressed. "First I dread the date, then he turns out to be a great guy and we almost get him killed," she said. "At this rate, we will all die very old maiden witches."

"Don't worry. He could have ended up as the other guys did. Be glad we were there, that is our job and we will have to stick to it," said Prue.

And Piper said, "Someday you will find the right guy."

Phoebe hoped that Piper was right.

THE END


End file.
